Wire dispensing device



Sept. 22, 1959 A. c. sHELDoN WIRE DISPENSING DEVICE Filed 'eb. 2, 1955[54 hun...

INVENTOR.

ALLEN C. SHELDON 05M gu M ATTORNEYS yon the core in a minimum of time.

United States Patent y WIRE DISPENSING'DEVICE Allen C. Sheldon, YFortWayne, Ind., assignor to Rea -llgnet Wire Company, Incorporated, FortWayne,

Application Februaryl, 1955, Serial No. 485,665

4 Claims. .'(Cl.242128) .'Ihe present invention .relates to a wiredispensing device, and more particularly to a device from which a.continuous length of coiled wire may be withdrawn at Aa relatively.high rategof lineal velocity.

Inthe mass production of coils used in electrical equipment, it isconventional to rotate a core at a relatively high'rate of speed to windthe required number of turns Coil forms vary in cross-section fromperfectly .round to ovular, square, and the .like shapes. When windingcircular coils, a con- .stant angular velocity of coil rotation will, ofcourse,

require a :constant lineal velocity of wire being fed thereto. However,a coil of square cross-sectional shape whichisrotated at a constantangular velocity will jerk 'the wire tbeing wrapped thereon, whereuponcertain problems are encountered which normally require that `the .speedof rotation of the square coil be somewhat less than that of thecircular coil.

The present invention is particularly adapted to the winding of coils ofany cross-sectional shape at a greater velocity than has heretofore.been possible. As a consequence, more coil units vcan be fabricated .ina given period-of time, whereby considerable savings in the cost of thefinished product is achieved.

.The principal feature of the invention resides in a wireretarding basein the form of an inverted cone having dampening walls extendingupwardly and outwardly to terminate short of the adjacent inner surfaceof the :usual conical guide through which the wire passes. The

purpose of such an inverted cone is .to dampen the .el- .liptical actionwhich is set up in rapidly withdrawing Vthe wire from the drum, it beingnoted that usually the wireis coiled in the-drum in eccentric loops.Thus, as the wire is `withdrawn it gains momentum and inertia until itthrows a loop ahead of itself such as to develop 4a knot vin the wire.The inverted cone is effective to dampenfand prevent the wire loopingahead ofitself as v .it=breaks Vaway from the linner core or tube.

`[In vview of the foregoing, it is an object of this inven- .gtionztoprovide a'wire dispensing device whereby a con- ;-tinuous length of wire.may be withdrawn at arelatively high velocity over a relatively vlongYcontinuous period of time without interruption.

Otherobjects will Ybecome apparent as Vthe description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related ob- -Ljects, my inventionmaybe embodied in the forms illus- .trated in' the Vaccompanyingdrawings, attention being .called `to the fact, however, `that thedrawings are illus- -.tr'ative only, and that specic'change may be vmadein the ',specitic constructions 'illustrated and described, so long the.scopeof the appended claims is not violated.

With .reference to the drawings, a barrel type container,A generallyindicatedby the reference numeral 10, is composed of an outer tubularwall 12 and an inner core wall 14. These walls are coaxially relatedvand provide an annular storage .space therebetween which is filled witha continuous length of enamelled soft copper wire. While ,thisparticular wire is specified as an example, it will be obvious thatother wire may be stored and dispensed from the mechanism. The storage.space vis shown 'as being approximately half filled with wire inFig. l,and the wire is so stored by'being laid .in a continuous coil around thecore wall '14. Reference to Fig. 3 diagrammatically illustrates how 'thewire is disposed in the annular storage 'space,.and nfor illustrativepurposes three turns of wire have been shown.

.It will be noted that each one of the three turns vis eccenk tricallyYarranged in the storage space and such eccen- 'tricity maybe traced asstarting with point 16, moving to rthe outer wall 12vat point 18,turning inwardly against the core 14 at point '20, then moving outwardlyto a point adjacent the outer wall, etc. until the three 'illustratedeccentric coils are'laid in angular spaced relation into the storagespace as shown. Methods for eccentrically storing coils of wire arewell-known in the art and need to be further elaborated here.

Referring `now to the Figs. l and 2, a vfrusto-conically shaped guidingcone 22 is coaxially fixed to the upper en'd of .the container wall 12and is provided with an opening 24 at its 'apex for receiving the-end ofa wire-guiding -frame 26. This frame 26 has a downwardly inclined beam28 which Vis supported by an upright member 30 suitably .secured to theouter surface of the cone 22. A conventional tensioning device orcapstan 32 vis rotatably mounted on the frame 26 in registry with theopening .24, and is provided with adjustable friction means to .retardor inhibit rotation.

`Mounted internally of the .cone 22 is a second cone or Yretardingelement indicated generally by the reference numeral 34. This inner coneis composed of two conical portions, a lower portion 36 and an upperportion 38. The lower portion is telescopically fixed to lthedis-Ycharge end of the core wall 14 and inclines toward the Aaforementioneddischarge end as shown. The other conical portion 38 is oppositelyarranged as shown.

The particular inclination of the conical surface '36 produces anannularopening or space 4t) which is smaller than the annular storage space 42between the inner and outer walls 14 and '12 and which is so positionedas to lie approximately in between the two container walls as shown.'The inclination of the conical surface v36 .with the vertical isrepresented by the angle a and preferably lies within the range oftwelve to twenty degrees ,(.1.2 to 20). The `angle which the conicalsurface 38 makes with the -vertical is not critical and may be fortytivedegrees (45 Suitable supporting brackets or angles 44 secured to theinner surface of the inner core 34 l abut lthe upper end edge ordischarge end of the core wall 14 to provide support for the inner cone.

.Both of the inner and outer cones 34 and 22 respec` electronicequipment for insulating cabinet surfaces.

The importance ofthe presence of this `flock material 46 .willbe-.'ex1.'5lained more fully in the following.

As yseen in 'Fig l, a strand of wire from the annular space 42 isthreaded between the inner and outer cones 34 and 22 through the apexopening 24, about the reel 32 and onto a coil form 48. This coil form issquare in cross-section and represents one of the most diihcult coildesigns for winding ata high rate of speed. As the core 48 is rotated,wire is drawn out of the annular space 42. Since the wire is actuallydrawn axially from the space 42, it obviously follows that the wire willtravel circumferentially around the wall 14.

In prior art arrangements which utilized the annular storage 42 and fromwhich wire was axially drawn at a relatively high rate of speed,difficulty was normally encountered in the respect that the wire woulduncoil too rapidly at times and wou-ld become knotted, thereby requiringthat the equipment be stopped for clearing the knot and repairing anydamage that may have occurred. This difculty usually occurred when thewire was withdrawn from the storage space 42 at too great a velocity,such that the greatestrate at which wire could be withdrawn from thecontainer was limited to a value at which such knotting would not occur.

This invention considerably increases the upper limit at which wire maybe withdrawn from the container 10, and thereby considerably increasesthe rate of production of coils. This increased efciency is believed tobe primarily due to the fact that the particular inclination of theconical surface 36 and the presence of the annular opening 40, which isof greater diameter than the core wall 14, serve as a brake against thewire leaving the mechanism too fast. Prior art arrangements permittedthe wire being uncoiled to gain such momentum upon leaving the storagespace that it would uncoil circumferentially around the core wall 14 ata rate exceeding that required by the lineal velocity of the wireleaving the mechanism. This caused the uncoiling wire to loop overitself and to tie a perfect knot.

While the invention materially improves efficiency when the conicalsurface 36 is a smooth metallic surface, the use of flock material 46further improves the efciency when smaller sizes of wire are dispensed.

While the different portions of the apparatus may be made of differentsuitable materials, satisfactory results have been achieved with thecontainer 10 being fabricated from a paper base material, and the cones22 and 34 being made from self-supporting metal.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds asubstantially continuous length of wire loosely -accommodated within anannular storage space, said device comprising a container havingsubstantially coextensive and co-axial inner and outer walls deiiningtheannular storage space therebetween, said container having an open endthrough which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which affords supportfor the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover memberprovided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end inoverlying relation to the openend ot` the container, a wire-motiondamping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of thecontainer and having an annular surface extending into the area boundedby said cover member and over said annular storage space, said annularsurface being inclined and having a slope which is reversed with respectto the slope of said covermember to provide an annular spacing be-`tween the cover member and said surface, and said wire-motion dampingelement having another annular surface extending from the iirst saidannular Vsurface toward the apex of said cover, said second annularsurface being inclined and having a slope which is the reverse of thatof the iirst annular surface.

2. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds asubstantially continuous length of wire loosely accommodated within anannular storage space, said device comprising a container havingsubstantially. coextensive and co-axial inner and outer walls definingthe annular storage space therebetween, said container having an openend through which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which affordssupport for the wire in the annular storage space, a conical covermember provided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger openend in overlying relation to the open end of the container, awire-motion damping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the openend of the container and having an annular surface extending into thearea bounded by said cover vmember and over said annular storage space,said annular surface being inclined and having a slope which is reversedwith respect to the slope of said cover member and terminating short ofthe cover member to provide an annular spacing between the cover memberand said surface. Y

3. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds asubstantially continuous length of wire loosely accommodated within anannular storage space, said device comprising a container havingsubstantially coextensive and co-axial inner `and outer walls deiningtheannular storage space therebetween, said container having an openendthrough which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which aords supportfor the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover memberprovided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end inoverlying relation to the open end of the container, a wire-motiondamping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of thecontainer and having an annular surface extending into the area boundedby said cover member and over said annular storage space, said annularsurface being inclined at an angle of between about 12-20 to the axis ofsaid inner wall and having a slope which is reversed with respect to theslope of said cover member and terminating short of the cover member toprovide an annular spacing between the cover member and said surface.

closed end which atords support for the wire in the annular storagespace, a conical cover member provided with an opening at its apex andmounted at a larger open end in overlying relation to the open end ofthe container, a wire-motion damping element mounted on said inner walladjacent the open end of' th'econtainer and having an annular surfaceextending into the area bounded by said cover member and over saidannular storage space, said annular surface being inclined and having aslope which is reversed with respect to the slope of said covermemberand terminating short of the cover member Vto provideV an annularspacing between the cover member and said surface, and a wire guidingand tensioning element mountedon said cover member adjacent the apex ofthe cover member adapted to accommodate the wire as it isrdrawn throughthe said Yapex opening of said cover member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 69,101Kershaw Sept. 24, 1867 315,707 Briggs ...1.--- Apr. 14, 1885 331,855White Dec. 8, 1885 384,890 Chapman June 19, 1888 745,832 Hanson Dec. 1,1903 1,830,449 Swank Nov. 3,1931 2,629,566 King Feb. 241953 i Y FOREIGNPATENTS 1,000,011 France oc.'10, 1951

